Dates and locations of Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program training sessions:
(Pre-registration with a fee is required for all workshops)

Bird Nest Monitoring
Date:	March 13, 2010
Time:	10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location:	Woodbury County Conservation Board Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, 4500 Sioux River Road, Sioux City, IA
Registration:	Download Form,*.pdf $5.00 fee should be sent to: (Checks payable to Iowa DNR) Boone Wildlife Research Station, attn: VWMP, 1436 255th Street, Boone, IA 50036. NOTE: If signing up for both the Bird and Frog and Toad workshop drop a dollar from the fee to make it $4.00 ($8.00 total for both)
Food:	Various refreshments and drinks will be available throughout the day and we will take a break for lunch but participants will need to bring a bag lunch.
Notes:	The Bird Nest Monitoring and Frog and Toad Workshop in Woodbury are being held back to back on the 13th and 14th of March. If you wish to sign up for both, you need only turn in one registration Form and can drop $2.00 from the registration fee for $8.00 total.
Date:	March 20, 2010
Time:	10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location:	Page County Conservation Board Conservation Center, 2039 Highway 71, Clarinda, IA
Registration:	Download Form,*.pdf $5.00 fee should be sent to: (Checks payable to Iowa DNR) Boone Wildlife Research Station, attn: VWMP, 1436 255th Street, Boone, IA 50036
Food:	Various refreshments and drinks will be available throughout the day and we will take a break for lunch but participants will need to bring a bag lunch.
Notes:
Date:	March 27, 2010
Time:	10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location:	Jasper County Community Center 2407 1st Ave. E, Newton, IA This workshop is jointly hosted by the Jasper County Conservation Board
Registration:	Download Form,*.pdf $5.00 fee should be sent to: (Checks payable to Iowa DNR) Boone Wildlife Research Station, attn: VWMP, 1436 255th Street, Boone, IA 50036. NOTE: If signing up for both the Bird and Frog and Toad workshop drop a dollar from the fee to make it $4.00 ($8.00 total for both).
Food:	Various refreshments and drinks will be available throughout the day and we will take a break for lunch but participants will need to bring a bag lunch.
Notes:	The Bird Nest Monitoring and Frog and Toad Workshop in Jasper are being held back to back on the 27th and 28th of March. If you wish to sign up for both, you need only turn in one registration Form and can drop $2.00 from the registration fee for $8.00 total.
Frog and Toad Call Survey
Date:	March 14, 2010
Time:	12:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Location:	Woodbury County Conservation Board Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, 4500 Sioux River Road, Sioux City, IA
Registration:	Download Form,*.pdf $5.00 fee should be sent to: (Checks payable to Iowa DNR)Boone Wildlife Research Station, attn: VWMP, 1436 255th Street, Boone, IA 50036. NOTE: If signing up for both the Bird and Frog and Toad workshop drop a dollar from the fee to make it $4.00 ($8.00 total for both).
Food:	Various refreshments and drinks will be available throughout the day.
Notes:	The Bird Nest Monitoring and Frog and Toad Workshop in Woodbury are being held back to back on the 13th and 14th of March. If you wish to sign up for both, you need only turn in one registration Form and can drop $2.00 from the registration fee for $8.00 total.
Date:	March 28, 2010
Time:	12:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Location:	Jasper County Community Center 2407 1st Ave. E, Newton, IA This workshop is jointly hosted by the Jasper County Conservation Board
Registration:	Download Form,*.pdf $5.00 fee should be sent to: (Checks payable to Iowa DNR)Boone Wildlife Research Station, attn: VWMP, 1436 255th Street, Boone, IA 50036. NOTE: If signing up for both the Bird and Frog and Toad workshop drop a dollar from the fee to make it $4.00 ($8.00 total for both).
Food:	Various refreshments and drinks will be available throughout the day.
Notes:	The Bird Nest Monitoring and Frog and Toad Workshop in Jasper are being held back to back on the 27th and 28th of March. If you wish to sign up for both, you need only turn in one registration Form and can drop $2.00 from the registration fee for $8.00 total.

If you are interested in attending a VWMP workshop and there are no dates posted yet, contact Stephanie Shepherd express your interest and she will contact you when additional workshops are scheduled. Alternatively, check back here for updates.

The Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring program (or VWMP) is for volunteers who wish to be more regularly involved with the collection of data for the Wildlife Diversity Program. The wildlife diversity program, with limited resources and staff, has statewide responsibility for 800+ species. Therefore we can't possibly keep track of all these critters in every corner of the state no matter how much we might like to! This is where we really lean on enthusiastic and sharp-eyed volunteers who have a passion for wildlife and its conservation.

As a result of this need for volunteers that are willing and interested in collecting data, we hold two separate workshops each March to train folks to perform surveys on two very important and sensitive groups of wildlife:

Bird Nest Monitoring
The Bird Nest Monitoring Program focuses on two very special groups of birds: Raptors (Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, Owls) and Colonial Waterbirds (Herons, Egrets, Night-herons, Cormorants). These two groups of top predators are particularly sensitive to environmental changes, making them not only fascinating animals to observe but also important animals to monitor. At a Bird Nest Monitoring workshop, participants learn first how to identify Iowa's raptors and colonial waterbirds, and then how to find and map a nesting site and finally how to report observations of nesting activity to the Wildlife Diversity Program.

Frog and Toad Call Survey
Wetlands are one of our most precious resources and while providing us with clean water, they also provide a home for all kinds of wildlife including our most vocal amphibians, the frogs and toads. Amphibians are currently in a global decline and face many environmental stressors. They are our most melodious representatives of Iowa's water resources. Since 1991 the Wildlife Diversity Program has coordinated a statewide yearly survey of frogs and toads. Hundreds of volunteers have helped with this survey and by attending a VWMP frog and toad training workshop you can become one too! Participants in these workshops will learn how to identify Iowa's frogs and toads by sight and by sound, and then how to collect important data on these critters and report that data to the wildlife diversity program. Recently, Iowa took a big step and joined the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) which has set up routes all over the state in need of a surveyor. Attending one of these workshops is the first step to adopting one of these routes and the data you collect can then be used not just for Iowa but at the regional and national level too!

We hope that you will bring your enthusiasm for wildlife and the outdoors and attend a Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Workshop near you! If you'd like more information feel free to contact Stephanie Shepherd by e-mail or at 515-432-2823.

IF YOU LIKE VWMP…
Here are some other programs that may interest you:

• NatureMapping run by Iowa State Extension is a great place to get started with wildlife observation data collection!
  
  
• IOWATER and Project Aware - volunteer based water quality testing and clean up.
  
  
• Keepers of the Land - Iowa DNR's Volunteer Network
  
  
• Iowa Butterfly Survey Network - Coordinated by the Butterfly Curator at Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University. Call for more information (515) 294-2567.
  
  
• Iowa's Breeding Bird Atlas - A five year project to map the distribution of breeding birds in Iowa.

• Wildlife Diversity Program - Data Entry Website

Frog and Toad Survey
Frog and Toad Survey: Data Sheet
Frog and Toad Survey: Instructions and Code Sheet
Bird Nest Monitoring Survey
Raptor: Data Sheet
Raptor: Instructions and Code Sheet
Colonial Waterbird: Data Sheet
Colonial Waterbird: Instructions and Code Sheet
Peregrine Falcon: Data Sheet
Peregrine Falcon: Instructions and Code Sheet